The Price of Birth

Odium Reigns

Walking away from the hideous cabin, I see Nara's golden carriage through rain, which is lightening up, approaching carrying her dear husband. I turn to face my country's knight's, the Red Men, "Kill the King." Jumping onto my own black carriage. "Driver, to the Odiums palace, and make it quick."

I open the door and climb inside and see the midwife calming down the child. Sitting across from the midwife I watch her soothe the baby with our country's song of lure.

Six kings five queen

Maybe you'll be next

Power and fire

Is how to prove the best

Four days three cages

Will you pass the test

Two birds one stone

Go kill your foe

I close my eyes as I listen to her sing it on a loop on our way back to the palace. The midwife's voice is so calming and soothing, just a mother should be. Maybe the queen and king will let the little girl live with her after this is done. Though a guilty conscience is a very dangerous thing.

My close slowly, and my head starts drifting off to the side. The carriage hit some rocks and we bumped out of our leather seats. The jolt is big enough to wake me up. The child starts to cry. I reach out my hands and the midwife hands the child over to me.

Holding the child in my arms I swing myself side to side slowly. Once she calms down I lean back into the seat, I watch her coo softly. I trace her fingers with my finger and watch the baby in silence. Eventually, I looked up at the midwife. "She looks an awful lot like her mother."

"Did you know her?" she asked me as I handed her Elysian.

"Yes," looking out the window I watch as the scenery changes from the thick forest of Enamore to its farmlands. "She and our king were close friends when they were kids. Since my father was captain of the Red Men, I was the king's personal servant as a child. Although he had another, and I was more his friend. The three of us used to have such fun exploring Odium. That was before King Nickodemus met his beloved bride."

Staring out of the window I the farmlands turn into sand. I turn around to open the slit to speak to the driver. "Pull over," I instruct him. He immediately begins to slow down and comes to a stop. "Stay here," I open the carriage door and make my way to the front of the horses that carry the carriage.

"What are you doing Captain?" question one of the Red Men with me.

I turn to face him, "I am your Captain. Just you never question our king and queens judgment you never question my own. Do you understand?" He nodded his head frightened. "I look up and speak forcefully, "the next one of you to question whatever it is that I am doing, I will have your head and deliver it to your loved ones on a silver platter."

I pull off a ring from my finger, bringing the ring to my lips. I whisper into it, "Dead Men's Crossing." I throw the ring a few yards in front of the horse and it grows into an expanding circle with red and gold spirals circling inside of the ring and sparks flying out of it. "Let's go," climbing back into the carriage I hear the driver giddy-up the horse. As we pass through the portal I can feel the difference in the air. It's mustier in Odium than in Enamore, but that does tend to happen after a pretty nasty rainfall here. The scenery from the window changes from that beach to the black sand beach of Odium.

I hear the difference of the carriage crossing Dead Man's Crossing. The wood boards of the bridge aren't secure and bounce up and down. The midwife attempts to cover the child with her own body but fails because it's too bumpy and all the flying the carriage is doing is not helping her situation.